Many Florida fans are wondering if the Gators’ recent struggles could cause any 2014 class members to rescind their commitments.

Fortunately for UF, most of the pledges are still solid and will stick regardless of this season’s results. However, a handful of them seem open to other schools and susceptible to their recruiting efforts.

Here are five Florida commits who are on waver watch:

1) J.C. Jackson, ATH, Immokalee, 5-10, 180

Jackson has taken several visits this fall, most recently to South Florida over the weekend. Last month he officially visited Minnesota and took two trips to nearby Miami. He wants to return to Coral Gables for an official in December. Jackson maintains his verbal hasn’t weakened, but that’s coming from someone who has already decommitted once. Immokalee kids, for whatever reason, tend to have crazy recruitments, and Jackson’s will be no different.

2) Chris Lammons, CB, Fort Lauderdale Plantation, 5-10, 171

A few days prior to his decision, Lammons was set to pick South Carolina. A heart-to-heart conversation with Will Muschamp just before his ESPNU announcement changed that. But Lammons continues to speak regularly with the Gamecocks, while Tennessee, his other finalist, is currently recruiting him the hardest. He will officially visit both schools in addition to UF, with trips to UCF and Wisconsin being a possibility as well.

3) Ermon Lane, WR, Homestead, 6-2, 192

Lane is the one fans are worried about the most, although he consistently claims his Florida commitment is solid. He chose UF over Alabama, Florida State and Miami, but given the success of the latter three schools this season and his plans to officially visit them, there’s a feeling he could be swayed. The prospect of playing with Will Grier and three of his close friends likely keeps Lane committed, but the status of his pledge will be worth monitoring once he starts going on trips.

4) Travaris Dorsey, OL, Jacksonville Raines, 6-3, 293

When asked by Rivals.com in May to put a percentage on his commitment, Dorsey replied “59 percent.” He now says it’s at 100 percent. Dorsey has mentioned Miami, Mississippi State, North Carolina and Rutgers as potential official visit destinations, but UF and UM are the schools he has scheduled trips to at this time. The ‘Canes may be the only real threat for Dorsey, but Florida’s closeness to home and need at offensive line should make him stick.

5) Dalvin Cook, RB, Miami Central, 5-11, 192

Having one of your top commits visit other schools is never an ideal situation, but Florida doesn’t appear to be at risk of losing Cook. He made some strong statements last week about where he stands with the Gators, and sources close to him told The Sun those comments were sincere. Both Cook and his teammate, 2015 UF receiver commit Da’Vante Phillips, are not discouraged by what’s happening in Gainesville because they believe things won’t be that way once they arrive.

While we’d welcome them to become Gators, and hope they make the right choice, if they’re doubtful at all, they need to take their other visits. Then, either stick with their commitment or go the hell somewhere else.

When I saw the headline of the article I was prayer you wouldn’t name our top five recruits, sadly you did. However I’m very optimistic that the guys will hold true to their commitment. If not a huge loss for the Gators

Naturally, most kids with multiple options are going to have 2nd thoughts, especially with NSD being months (feels like years to them) away. This is to be expected. Now, our unforeseen offensive struggles and coaching uncertainty does heighten their concern, but that’s okay. The ones that stick with us and continue to recruit others to join them are the ones we want – THEY HAVE A PURPOSE! Go Gators!

With all the calls for Muschamp to be fired, it’s no surprise that some of our recruits may be on the fence. All other coaches have to do is tell the recruits to read all the comments of this website and some others. Sometimes, we’re our own worse enemy.

BSJGator – That’s the way to convince recruits that they want to play at Florida!

Back in 1968 Coach Graves’ team was ranked very high early, beating Air Force to open the season and knocking off the Noles. UF climbed into the top five in the rankings. We had our best-ever running back Larry Smith, two All-American O-linemen, Mac Steen and Guy Dennis, big Jim Yarbrough at tight end. Jack Youngblood and Steve Tannen were on defense. All were high draft choices except Mac. We lost 22-7 to North Carolina on the road, then the wheels came off. Coach Graves at one point made the offensive and defensive units swaps sides for practice. Georgia blew us out 51-0 in the rain. An injured Larry Smith came off the bench to salvage the season with a late TD against Miami. The fan base and some big boosters howled for Graves’ head. A year later Coach Graves’ “Super Sophs” team compiled the best record in Gator history, including a 14-13 bowl win against the SEC champs from Tennessee, finishing 9-1-1. And then Coach Graves amid the pressure stepped down and we wound up with Doug Dickey and a long slide into irrelevance. We need to shut up about Coach Muschamp and let him work this out.

Typical media…they like to stir the pot, All will be Gators. Jackson has changed his mind twice already so he might be a possibility. By the way, the Canes should be full. They have 27 commitments and only 23 to give.,

Zach, as an avid fan of pretty much all of your work I can’t for the life of me figure out why you would even publish this article. These 5 youngsters who’ve committed haveenough on their plate to worry about & you just gave them another reason to worry. My feeling is this: even if they’re wavering let ‘em! My problem with the article is that you list most of the guys that are very, very solid which doesn’t make sense. Why put extra doubt in their minds when I’m sure they get it everyday from their friends & other scouts/schools recruiting them? If they’re solid then they shouldn’t have been placed on the list. Just my thoughts. As for the game this weekend-looking forward to seeing what Ol’ Pease has up his sleeve. Nothing to lose now so he needs to let the reins off of the offense & open it up for once. Let’s try things & see if they work. I still have faith that they will win but it will be tough. GO GATORS!!!!

BRGF,
I’ve been asked by dozens of Gator fans which commits are most likely to leave the class. These five are not “very, very solid” compared to guys like Will Grier, Justus Reed and Quincy Wilson. I personally think most, if not all, of them will stick with Florida, but I’m not going to ignore the request of my readers who want to know where they stand. I listed facts about where these recruits are visiting and things that have happened in their recruitments. I’m not criticizing anyone, and they couldn’t care less about what I have to say anyway.

Zach I see where you are coming from.Those are 5 potential offensive players including JC & Lammons.With the way our offense is struggling you can’t tell me FSU,Bama,& Mia. don’t look temping.You just don’t see recruits dying to come play for OC Pease.They come to Florida for what it is & stand for.Everyone ask yourself this 1 question,since Pease been here.What top recruit has Pease brought in?Muschamp recuited Robinson & Fulwood personally,T-Rob recruited Cook & Lane.Will Grier says even if Pease not here he still all Gators.Pease Really!!!!!!!

Zach is doing his JOB! He is a reporter, and this is what reporters do! Sometimes it stirs the pot, but that is role of the media in our society of free speech. If you were recruiting for one of those other schools, wouldn’t you go after our guys?

Thanks Zach! You by far do the best job of keeping everyone informed as to what’s happening in Gator Nation! If we had to depend on the “beach boys”, we’d have nothing but golf updates, recipes and ipod suggestions.
I think these young men will see the big picture. With the strategic addition of some depth and talent that they can provide, this class will be the final piece the Gators need to take back the east.

I love this University and have a child attending there now, but I’ve been asking myself this question; If the Gators were recruiting me right now, why would I choose them over another school? This team is not heading in the right direction, and the staff IS ON THE HOT SEAT. Any opposing recruiter worth his salt will use this in his recruiting pitch. Remember we are talking about very impressionable 17 and 18 year old kids.

Hey I’m not criticizing Zach. If you read my post I prefaced it by saying that I love pretty much most of his updates. Maybe-as shelby county suggested-the title could’ve been different. That’s all. Heck I look forward to the updates. I’m just looking towards the thinking that if you don’t put it out there then the recruits won’t think about switching as much. I’m still impressed with this class (as is looks now) and I really think there may be a surprise commit or two waiting in the wings that we don’t know about a la Marcus Roberson or Dante Fowler, Jr. Beat UGA & FSU and I think that solidifies most if not all of them. Play solidly & I still think they come but put up a clunker & Champ may have to sweat it out. As always, Zach-keep up the outstanding work & thanks for keeping me updated here in tygah country!! GO GATORS!!!!

Gatornation has to realize that the kids want to play together. They understand how the system works at Florida now and they are visiting other schools. I hate to be the person to rain on the parade, but they are not going to be a gator. They don’t want to play for a team that can’t throw the ball. Playing Louisville exposed Driskel for not being a passer and he has two years of eligibility left. Good luck with that garbage at QB. Laugh now cry later.

Hey fsu-what’s the problem-not enough traffic on the criminoles’ sites ha? Have to troll a REAL website to get real information. Well good luck with the canes. They stink as do all of the other acc teams. They should have at least 3 losses (UF, UNC, & Wake) and I can’t wait till the semi’s put the beatdown on them. Stay undefeated. That’ll be all the motivation the Gators need to take em out just like last year at Ron Zook field in Tally. SEmi’s are overrated & are up there because everyone else has lost. They basically have the same team UF beat into oblivion so get ready. GO GATORS!!!!

fsu – Gatornation says go back to Florida’s Second University. most likely all 5 will stay Gators. you are 1 injury away from not being able to pass also. as usual you havent won anything yet, and your talking out your SemonHole.

Zach, you know how recruiting goes and you’re wise enough to know it doesn’t matter what you write, recruits are going to do what their minds, hearts or impulses eventually tell them to do. All recruits have second thoughts, doubts and wavers to various extents. I don’t blame J.C. Jackson or any other recruit for constantly evaluating their options. Take your visits, speak with people who have personal experience and pray for guidance…everything else will fall into place. Enjoy your recruitment and be ready when it’s over and the road less traveled really begins. We hope to keep all and add more but if we don’t, we will wish them all the best! Go Gators!

We have never had a coach who was able to in a short period of time establish the level of talent Meyer was able to consistently deliver. He was rivaled by only Saban at Bama. All 5 & 4 star rated players are not created equal. Meyer recruited the best of both worlds. He was able to get some of the best athletes from around the country and he was able to get the cream of the crop in the state of Florida. 3 years removed his recruits formed the foundation of last years 11-2 team and the best players on this current team. The likelihood a novice head coach was going to come in and recruit at Meyer’s level was a long shot.

My concern is kthe hideous look of the Florida team on TV, many of the very best athletes may want to be associated with a program that is exciting and fun. Even defensive stars like being part of team that appears exciting. Therefore, top programs may have a slight advantage over UF over elite recruits.

While many of us older adults may look beyond excitement and think about how honored a young whipper-snapper should be to play for the Gators, honor alone may not motivate the best talent out there to come to UF, which we have to have to be the type of program we want to be. A high school junior and senior’s recollection of a program goes back no more than 3 -4 years. For many of the recruits coming out, what they recall of Florida has been the Brantley and Driskell years of Gator Football.

It is easy to say we only want recuits long on love for the Gators, but those players may not always be the very best players in the nation. So, we can’t complain if we don’t have the best program in the country, if we blow off the importance of competing for elite players who do not favor any particular school and are open to a program that will feature their talents an a prominent way.

Muschamp never hid the fact he was bringing a Woody Hayes brand of football to UF. I give the man credit for being true to his word. We may want to consider a coach who is going to bring some sizzle to the program, in this era where just about every team in the country is able to be prolific on the offensive side of the ball. I am not interested in another coach, like Muschamp, who’s heart is set on Woody Hayes football, who promises to hire an up tempo coach for next season. In the end that type of coach usually puts handcuffs on the OC anyway.

Meyer was able to get the best of the best players because the program was exciting. He built it quickly into the most exciting program in the nation to be a part of. He had really good teaching coaches. He had a clear philosophy that was proven. He was smart, cool, trusted his players, and knew what it took to win at the highest levels. He knew the kind of ball great players wanted to play. We have to find coach with all or most of those ingredients if we want to be elite, rather than morphing into the type of program a once elite UT his been the last several years.

These five recruits sound so promising. I’m perplexed though. Muschamp doesn’t just run a vanilla, grind it out on the ground offense, he loves it. He thinks he resides in the late 60′s and early 70′s where offense was only supposed to have ball control with a dozen or so points before going even more conservative while the defense smothered the other side. Who the hell wants to play for that? I hope these guys want to come to be Gators. Right now that’s all I’ve got to hang on to keep my sanity.

We let the Zooker move on to keep from sliding into the abyss of irrelevance. While ‘Champ is much better than the Zooker, if you would keep him over Meyer, Spurrier, Saban, etc., then mediocrity is your choice.

I like to read about recruits status. I prefer you to tell us why those players will choose UF. (not why they will not).
I do not like all this negative writings, IE “fire coach”.
It is not the fans job to decide if someone need to move on, it is the job of the people who make those decisions.
This stuff sounds like little children complaining about something that know nothing about. It is kind of funny that there are so many that think they know everything. I probably do that as well, but I am just as wrong when I do it.

Everybody seems to want spurrier and urban back now, but when we had them our fans were very critical of them. SOS said 10 wins a year was not good enough for gator fans. Urban won 2 NC in 5 years, but that was not good enough and fans still bash him.
i’m for UF now in bad year and am willing to see WM field a full team and win SEC. I am sure he will if given the time.

In the real world there are only a few coaches each year that have fan support, they are the ones on top that year.

[...] some cause for concern with Jackson and Lammons, which The Sun alluded to a couple weeks ago, but the Gators seem to be in good shape with Dawson, Lane and Cook (pictured below with UF commits [...]

I certainly hate to think any recruit is short sighted and shame on anyone who thinks Florida will not be a top ten team next year WITH the right offensive coaches in place. Our defense will be outstanding again and with all the starts our backups are getting we will be a really experienced team next year. I have confidence in one more year for Muschamp BUT only if he gets the kids thinking they cant lose and they give 100% every play like Pruitt has FSU defense playing. WE are talented, but we have such a BIG ego and no effort so these recruits sound like total winners lets hope they stay for not just next years East champions, but for academics,,,, go Gators !!

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If Zach Abolverdi had a dollar for every time his last name was mispronounced … you just made him richer. Born in Orlando but raised in Gainesville since 1990, he grew up around Florida football during the Steve Spurrier era. He once threw a perfect spiral under Spurrier’s watchful eye at his summer camp. The Head Ball Coach told him, “That’s a nice throw for a little man, but hold that ball by your ear.” The 8-year-old gunslinger replied, “I already know how to throw a football.” He didn’t appreciate the little man comment either. Zach is a Hearst Award winner and graduate of the University of Florida. He enjoys spending time with family, Denzel Washington movies and only about a dozen music artists, most of whom go by their real name. College football, the NFL, March Madness and LeBron James provide his sports fix.